With sayles full thwackt with winde and lustie showe.
But of ten thousand that thus doe brauely fleete,
Scarse ten at length doe with the hauen meet-e.

The hauen faire I meane of perfite ioye,
Where chiefest pleasure hath hir hiding place,
Where ioye surmounts, where griefe can not anoye,
Where lines the king of euerlasting grace,
That well rewardes eche minde that doth employe
Them selfe in trauaile to attaine that place:
And cloth condemoe to euerlasting paine,
All those that him forsake for pleasures vaine.

The seas be rough, the passage full of paine,

The. daungers great, the iourney large and long,

The pilots y 11, the coast is nothing plaine,

The force but weake, the enimies stout and strong,

The lets a number that labour to detaine,

And flattring showes that leades the maister wrong :

The streites of Marrocke are not halfe soyll,

N'e race of Britaine, ne Char) bdis, nor Scyll."

To



623

To guide on the voyage, the poet describes the neces-
sity of obtaining help by invocation of the sacred spirit
that regulates all things. The first danger is the rock of
vain-glory and pride:

" Within these seas, when first we enter in,
When first to winde out sayles committed bee,
When pleasantly on calmed streames we swim,
A mightie rocke lo streight at hand we see
Of massie gold, all decked and garnisht trim,
That doth allure the eye of eche degree;
The compasse great with corners out doth lie,
The heigth whereof doth reach the starrie skie.
A stately rocke beset with diamondes faire,

And pouldred round about with rubles red,
Where emralds greene doe glister in the aire,
With mantell blew of saphyres ouer spred :
Where wants no stone that nature can repaire,
No pearle of price nor Jewell polished.
Another heauen for the time it seemes,
And oft for heauen foolish men it deemes.

With swelling sands it lies encompast round,
And many a ragged reach it sendeth out,
Whereby full many a thousand haue bene drown'd
Yet neuer cease they for to saile about,
In gasing still vpon this gorgeous ground,
Approching neerer, not hauing any doubt,
Till on the sands with hastie course they slide.
And lose themselues vpon this piere of pride.

No greater daunger shalt thou lightly finde,
That more mishap and mischiefe more doth make,
Than this, that pluckes away the saylers minde,
And causeth him contrarie course to take;
Who forward puft with fonde vain glorious winde,
His perfite way doth vtterly forsake,
Till on the sands his keale here happes to knocke,
And dasheth all a sunder on this rocke.

A wretched rocke that mounting to the skie,
(Contenting not himselfe with earthly spoyle)
Once ouerthrew the angels sitting hie,
And cast them headlong from their happy soyle,
To darkest place where wayling now they lie,
With griefe ashamed of so great a foy'e,

The



624

The chiefe estates and princes here below,

Haue eke good cause this daungerous place to know

The raging waues doth belching vpward cast,
The wretched wmckes that round about doe fleeter
The silken sayles and glistering golden mast,
Lies all to torne and troden vnder feete,
The witlesse throng of women swarming fesr,
Like parrats pied in garments farre vnmeete,
With scarfes and tethers like to souldiers drest,
With painted heafe and shamelesse bared brest. '

A monstrous sort of men there shalt thou see,
Not men, but deuils sure that beare the face
Of men, that neuercan contented bee
Willi comly garments meete, but (voyde of grace)"
Forgetting quite their auncient olde degree,
To women chaunged, their manly shapes deface
With slender wastes, as maydens most doe vse ;
And frisled heare like harlots of the stewes.

With countnance coy, and forhead forced hie,
And staring top as lately frayed with sprites,
In rich attire, to feede the gasers eie,
That euermore in glistring show delights,
A sort of beasts whose chiefest ioy doth lie,
Tn decking vp themselues for wondring sighu,
In yellow, red, and purple to be seene,
Sometimes like fooles in gownes of gawdy greene.

As painted tombes that stinch and filth containe,
And Arras faire that rotten wals doth hide,
So doe these fooles with all their garments vaine,
And fresh attire drest vp in pompe and pride,
Nought else but beastly mindes and doltish braine,
Faire couered keepe, which filthie else were spide.
For vnderneath their garments glistering braue,
Lies mindes corrupt as rotten bones in graue.

A sinfull sort that wholy spend their life,

In setting out their stinking carcasse here.

Who night and daye doe passe with care and strife,

In studying how they fairest may appeare,

And wearie soone of fashions olde and rife,

Disguise themst-lues in newe disguised geare,

As not consisting of their proper minde,

But chaunging still as chaunged things they fmde. ....

Therforc



625

Therfcre take heede that in these seas dost snyle,

Let not this va'ine delight deceiue thy minde,

But rather striae against it to prcuayle,

And seek the chaneil of lovvlynesse to finde,

Which when thou gettest, no tempest can thee cpoayle,

Thou needest not feare no storme nor chaunging winde,

For there is harbrow safe for curie wight,

That in this happy chaneil haps to light.

This daunger past, and left aloofe behinde
Before thine eyes doth straight againe appeare,
Afowle deformed pile and hasard blinde,
That castes awaye all such as trauaile neare,
A lothsome rocke and hurtfull to the minde,
All ouergrowne with niosseand rustie geare,
Deformed to the eye, yet doth allure
Of earthly men the earthly mindes vnpure."

This proves the rock of Avarice, where

'' Vpon the sands great caskets heaped lie,
And cofers stuft with euerie kind of coyne,
Scraped vp by fraudc and filthy vsurie ;
Now here, now there, wheresoeuer they could purloyn
By force, by fraude, or any villanie,
Of rich, of poore, of courtier or of cloyne,
They wey not where nor how they doe it get, .
For all is fish with them that comes to net

God hath himselfe declared to you before,
That euen as slow rich men to heauen flic,
And enter in as hardly at the dore,
As doth the camell passe a needles eie:
^our burden great extorted from the poore,
Doth keepe you downe, you can not mount so hie,
The path is narrow, the gates are very straight,
You can not enter with so great a waight.

Your factors lie not there to aunswere you
Your bill of debt ; nor no such other geare;
Nor by exchaunge you can haue nothing due;
Your double vsance is but single there,
The trade is chaunged, the world is altered new;
Your toyle for gaine shall porch>ce homely cheare;
Your ten in hundreds will scarcely then amount,
When for your dealings you shall be callde to count,"

vol. ii. s s Here



6z6

Here bask the serpents of Envy and Detraction, whose
venomous tongue? have not stayed at assailing the elder
prophets and the Redeemer: Against Slander and Malice
the voyager is fitly warned, and the poet advises

*' thou that seekest the happie heauenly seate,
Keepe not this course but weii therof beware ;
"With spitefull tongue doe thou no man intreate,
Of others faults haue neuer to much C3re j
But of thine owne that liuest in daungers great,
Such toyle is much and well thou mayst it spare ;
Of others faults what needst thou babble so,
When thou thy selfe hast vices many mo.

Let no man's life by thee defaced bee,
Take not awaye that thou canst not restore,
And looke wlut faults in others thou doest see,
Take hede that in ihyselfe it be not more;
Report not yll, speake well of eche degree;
Encrease not griefe, but rather salue the sore,
Good wordes of all men gay net h laude and prayse,
Where as yll tongues are counted casiaw3yes

Hoyse vp thy sayles, and giue them to the winde;
These daungers pist, the fewer do remaine;
Take courage good, and shew thy valiant minde,
And wey that pleasure followes after paine;
As after troubles quirt rest we finde,
That farre surmounts our toyles and trauailes vaine;
For who so shrinkes with painfull things to mette,
Is farre vnwoithy for to taste the sweete."

The next danger arises from the " foule great flat/' ov
plain of gluttony, where the tables are spread with every
luxury, and

" About these dishes round attending stand,
Ech vile disease that may be named or found;
The growing gowte with shackled foote and hand,
That scarse can staye from falling to the ground;
The dropsie pale stands shaking on the sand,
"With bellie swolne that yeeldes a hollowe sound;
The feuer hole sittes gaping here for winde,
Whose scorched tongue no taste in meate can finde."

Other disease- are described that serve to " make
pleasant game" for physicians; and Abstinence, which

they



6 2 7

they count u nature's chiefest frende," is strongly rom-
inenclccl as a virtue to the "heavenly mind." The
mariner is next warned against an island, appearing like
an earthly paradise, where the air scented above "amber
grece," wafts the heavenly sounds of musie.

" The cliues are hie and all of chrystall shine,
Vpon the top whereof in order growes
Hie hautie trees with maiestie deuine,
That glistring greene farre of in shadowes showes;
Theie stately stands the loftie lordlye pine,
With ceders placed and rirre trees set in rowes,
Thick grones of mirtels coraly to be seene,
With couerts close of pleasant laurell greene.

Beyond these same are mountaines rising hie,
Clad round about with trees of diuerse kinde,
That placed in order much delight the eie,
And thither draw the saylers wandring minde,
Who thinke they see these hides to touch the skie,
In vewe whereof they pleasure great doe finde ;
There round about in euerie place below
Faire purple roses ioynde with jasmins grow.

Jn curie place may Beautie there be seene;
In -euerie place is pleasure for the eie,
Throughout the woods and pleasant forrests greene
Great docks of birdes of euerie sort doe die,
Of colours straunge and seldome to be seene,
That sit and sing vpon the branches hie
With curious note and skilfull melodie,
Agreeing all in pertite harmonic.

Xo lothsome sight doth any where appeare,

JMo thing disordred any kinde of waye;

But all things shining there with beautie cleare,

Alluring vnto pleasnie and lo playe,

That they that on*:e doe chaunce to trauaile neare,

Haue neuer minde to come from thence aw aye;

Suche pleasure straight they doe conceyue in minde,

As no where else saue there they thinke to iinde."

Hound this island are " shalls of mermayds swvm-
ming here and there," whose melody, " long time since
and many years ago,'-' Ulysses determined to hear, and,
-notwithstanding his great wisdom, was only saved by the

s s 2 want



6 2 8

want of liberty. The island forms the seat of lust, and
the queen, with Circean power, transforms her votaries
into animals. No danger equals this. Not Hercules
alone was seduced, hut also he who (e with Vries wife
that lay, and eke his sonne that further ran astray."

The next danger scarcely appears above the surface of
the water, having a smoothly polished top, which does
not threaten hazard, though myriads have been lost
thereon; it is Heresy, Here stand the altars of idolatry
raised to the heathen deities, and the author fitly bids the
mariner " let Paule thy pilot be vpon these seas." We
next come to Hypocrisy, the description of which is a
graft from the pen of Chaucer.

" Another daunger lies there in thy way,
That seemeth good and safe vnto the eie,
Whereat a number great of ships doe stay,
That here are lost or put in ieoperdie }
With colour false of good it doth betray,
And cloked faire doth cause men trauaile bie,
And most allures such men as seeke for fame ;
Hypocrisie this mischiefe hath, to name ;

A rocke but soft and simple to the eie,
That pleaseth much Hie minde of world lye sight;
Whereas disceyte doth closely couered lie,
Which hindreth men from trauaiiing aright ;
The place is large :;nd ristth something hie,
Vpon the top whereof in open sight,
There stands an image couered all of stone,
That there was placed many yea res agone.

Which image here I would describe to thee,
But that long since it hath bene painted plaine
By learned Chaucer that gem of poetrie,
Who passed the reach of any English brainej
A follie therefore were it here for me
To touch that he with pencell once did staine.
Take here therefore what he therof doth say,
Writ in the Romance of his Roses gaye.

Another thing was done their write,
That seemed like an Hypocrite,
And it was cleped Pope holye,
That ill is she that priuilye,

Nc



629

Ne spareth neuer a wicked deede,

Whf n men of hir taken none heede^

And maketh hir outward precious,

With pale visage and pituous ;

An 1 seemeth a simple creature,

But there nis no misaduenture,

That she ne thinketh in hir courage.

Full like to hir was thilk image,

That maked was byt hir semblance,

She was full simple of countnance,

And she was clothed and eke shod,

As she were for the loue of God,

Youlden to religion,

Such seemed hir deuotiori,

A psalter helde she fast in hande,

And busily she gan to fonde,

To make many a faint prayer,

To God and to his saints deare,

Ne she was gaye, fresh nor iollitFcj

But seemd to be full intcntiffe

To good workes and to faire,

And thereto she had on a haire;

Ne certes she was fat nothing,

But seemed werie for fasting,

Of colour pale and dead was shee,

From hir the gates aye warned bee

Of Paradyse the blissfull place,

For such folke maken leane their grace,

As Christ sayth in his Euangile,

To get their price in towne a while,

And for a little glorie vaine,

They lesen God and eke his raigne.

Thus hath the golden pen of Chaucer olde
The image plaine desciiued to the eie,
Who passing by long since did it beholde,
And tooke a note therof aduisedly
Vnto his fellowes of that age it tolde,
And left it eke for his posteritie,
That ech man passing by might plainly know
The perfite substance of that flattring show.

The greatest dangers being past, the mariner is di-
rected to veer the sheets, haul up the mainsail, advance
the tops, hang out the flags, cast fear away, take a lusty
s s 3 heart.



6 3 o

heart, revive the spirits, and cheer the mind. The lesser
temptations that lemain, are not considered as able to
hurt the " godly carefull mindc." These are briefly de-
scribed as Blasphemy, Cruelty, Hatred, Murder, Theft,
Sorcery, Presumption, and Desperation.

The voyage draws to a conclusion ; earnest prayer in-
troduces peace, love, mercy, patience, and lively faith.

" Remaineth nothing for thee nowe behinde,
But gracious mnrkes that leade the sayler right;
That comforts much the godly vertuous minde,
And teacbeth them to finde the port of light;
Passe thou by these, so shalt thou surely finde
The chiefest succour for the weiie sprite ;
For who so runues by these shall neuer misse
The hauen faire of euerlasting blis^e.

The formost of these sure and happie guides
Js earnest Prayer that giues a goodly show,
And keepeth safe the Barke from troublous tide?,
That moued with hellishe tide.- contrarie flow ;
In safetie here the wandring vesscll rides,
"Whatsoever hap, what winde soeuer blow,
Though deuill, world, and flesh against it striue,
Yet vnder sayle it safely here may driue.

A thousand happy hands may here be seenc,
Helde vp with hart vnfeyned vnto the skies,
"Washed in the waters of repentance clrane,
And purged pure with teares of weeping ties ;
A thousand tongues from mindes that well d <>e meane
Yeelde vp to God their feruent suites and cries j
At morning, noone and night continuailye,
Here shalt thou see them on their faces lye.

The next is Peace, a quiet happie pl-ice,
Where as no strife nor rancor can be found ;
Rest thou thy barke within this roade of grace,
And trauaile for to touch vpon this ground ;
They alwayes come to good that run this race;
Thou needest not here for feare of daunger sound ;
For those that here mo^t peaceably remayne,
Haue daily traffique with the heauenly raigne.



Hereby doth Loue another beautie stand,
That brings thee straight vnto the rode of rest,



And



6 3 1

And" poynted out directly with hir hand,
The perhte way by which thou mayst be blest:
No harmlull boate may euer here take land,
lint only tho-ie that please the Almightie best,
And seeke to sayle according to his will ;
This Loue doth all the hestes of God fulfill.

Next Mercie stands, a goodly marke and plaine,

That Jeadeth streight vnto the blissfull port,

And is possessed ot the heauenly traine,

And most frequented of the vertuous sort.

Who doe not thinke the words were spoken in vaine,

Wherwith our Sauiour did the Jewes exhort,

Assuring those that mercie shewde to men,

That mercie should be shewed againe to them.

Not farre from hence may Pacience plaine be seene,

The bulwarke strong against all iniurie,

The soueregne Ladie and most victorious Queene,

In trouble, toyles and worldly miserie,

Which euermore assuredly hath beene

The Buttresse chiefe of Christianitie,

By which the soules of vertuous men haue saylde,

That neuer yet in storme or tempest quaylde,

Hereliuely Faith may well discerned bee,
The chanell safe that leades to heauenly blisse,
Whereby the fathers oldeattainde to see
The hauen faire and port of perfite blisse";
This made the martyrs flame in such degree,
That life they weyed not in respect of this,
By which they knew assuredly to finds
The blissfull place conceyued in their minde.

These are the markes whereto thou must take heede;

By these thou mayest thy selfe in voyage guide,

If that thou seekest luckily to speede,

To passe the flattes and scape the raging 'ide;

Vpou this course haue mariners agreed',

That long time since these seas haue fully tridej

No other way they here haue left behinde,

Whereby we may the happie hauen finde."

Where the hark shall finally rest, is beyond the weak
powers of man to describe.

" The ioyes are such as cannot here be tolde;
No pen can paint, nor tonjrue can tell the kinde,

s 4 The



633

The gorgeous sight that 6aints shall here beholcle,
Surmounts the reach of any earthly minde,
And passeth aye a hundred thousand fokle
The sweetest pleasures that in thys world we finde;
No eye hath seene, no eare hath euer harde
The ioyes that are for godly men prepardc.

Applie thy minde to seeke this happy place,
Put all thy strength and all thy force thereto,
Call vnto God continually for grace,
As Christ hath taught, seeke alwayes fur to doe,
Set alwayes him and his before thy face,
So shalt thou come the blessed hauen to,
So thou thy selfe with eyes shalt plainly see,
What ioy, what pleasures there prepardc bee."

" The death of S. Polycarpus, Bishop of Smyrna, and
disciple to Saint John, Euseb. lib. 4" and " a Priest of
Apollo, straungely conuerted. Euseb. lib. 4" which ap-
pear to be the " one or two" stories, mentioned in the
dedication, conclude the volume.

When our author flourished, the amplification of the
materials which produce the elegance of poetry, was too
commonlv neglected The playful attributes of fancy
and imagination were not lavishly associated with the
labours of the Muse ; but while the delineation of an
image is nearly bare of every ornament and grace, it does
not prevent the rough and impressive outline from ex-
hibiting the hand of a master. Had the author studiously
remarked the effect and richness of the imagery that
adorns Sachvilles Induction, then newly printed, he
would have produced a more picturesque, if not an elegant
performance. His manner evidently suffered by the
chains of fashion, but that, if it do not discover a power-
ful originality, docs not prove a deficiency of judgment,
talent or genius. His staff, as it was then modishly termed,
or stanza, is what Richard Nicolls calls of the fifth pro-
portion,* and was irsed by H?rington in his Translation

</

* -; For the versa, (says this writer) I haue chosen the fourth
proportion, which is the stanza of seuen, preferring it before the
-.;>; which i- tiie st^C' of eight, because it is chiefly vscd of ot:r

ancient



6 33

of Arioslo. However, that writer neglected to preserve a
principal beauty in the metre, from the legitimate
smoothness of an unlaboured though oft recurring rhyme;
by adopting the final polysyllables, adducing for an au-
thority Sir Philip Sydney, as one that " not only useth
them but affecteth them." That grace our author's
poem uniformly possesses, and therein one of the hap-
piest instances of the harmony of measure, which, from
its length, the age that produced it can shew.

He has enlarged, perhaps faultily, from being too
minute, on the several characteristics of thcVices, without
the usual and necessary relief in an equal display of the
Virtues, whereby the prominent features of the one are
scarcely effaced by the trite and crowded images of the
other. Yet, defective as his allegory may be, it does
not seem improbable but that the Purple Islnvd, by
Fletcher, derives its formation from the Ship of Safe-
guard.

The only copy of this tract hitherto discovered, is in
possession of Earl Spencer, and forms one in a thick
i2mo volume, containing many rare articles, lettered
" Miscellanea," belonging to the library at Alihorp.*

I cannot omit this opportunity of acknowledging the
obligation of this work to the liberal permission of. that



ancient and best historical! poets; and though T confesse that of
eight to hold better bond, vet is it more tedious to a writer, being
it binds him. to the band of two ton res intertar.gled, wlv'ch if he
obsenie not, it is no l;,;taine or stafre of eight, but fals into the
first proportio", making two quadreins. 11 Vide address " To the
reader/' prefixed to the last part of the Mirour of Magistrates,
1610.

* Some account of the treasures of the fifteenth century, col-
lected by the noble possessor, there and at Spencer house, will
appeir in " a volume of about 500 pages, devoted to a description
of some of the rarest books of early typography," and which,
from the known rapidity and unceasing industry of the very
valuable Editor, we may expect to be gratified with during the
current year. Ft has been announced by the partial distribution
of thirty-six copies of Book Rarities, or a Descriptive Catalogue oj
some of the most curious, rare, an. I '-valuable books of early date ; chiefly
; the collection of the Right Honourable George Jo':: Earl Spencer, K.CL
'; the Rf-v. r iby.ua Vecgiial Dibdin.

nobleman^



6'34

nobleman, as well in the present article, as those already
inserted at p. 344, 34.9, and 534. * J. H.



^j[ Bellen den's Translation of the History of Scotland,
fiom the Latin of Boetius. Folio. 1541. black-letier.

This volume in a perfect state is extremely rare; and
the copy from which this account is taken wants the
title. At the end of a poetical prologue however, is the
following colophon :

" Heir after followis the history and croniklis of
Scotland compilit and newly correckit by the reverende
and noble clerke maister Hector Boece ckannon of Aber-
dene. Translaiit laitly be Maister Iohn Bcllendene
Archdene of Murray, ckannon of Ros. At the command
of the richt hie, richt excellent, & noble prince James
ike V. of that name King of Scottis. And imprented at
Edinburgh be Thomas Davidsan divellyng fornens the
frere wynd."

In this age of reprints, perhaps the work of Bellenden
might not be unworthy the notice of some enterprising
editor. Hector Boyse, as an historian, is noted chiefly
for his fabulous absurdity. But to the greater number
of those who cherish an attachment to black letter
volumes, the marvellous legends, and wild superstitions
of an author who is resolved to '* hold each strange tale
devoutly true," must frequently prove more acceptable
and interesting, than a concise narra'ivc of facts, however
elegantly told. To such historians, it is almost needless
to observe, we are indebted for the best plavs of Shak-
spear; and, in more recent times, for the " Lay of the
last Minstrel, Marmion, the Lady of the Lake, and
Don Roderick.^ While the annotations of Scott and
Southey never refer to such writers as Hume and Bo-
bertson,thev are crowded with quotations from Froissart,
Mathew Paris, Hector Boyse, and the Cronicon Nurem-
bergenscs. These obsolete authors perhaps contain the

* It has not been noticed, that among the Lnnsdowne MSS.
now in liiit. Mns. are some letters of Barnaby Googe, (the sup-
posed author of this poem) and the Dareiis, regarding that al-
liance. See Catalogue, I. 22, 25.

germs



$33

germs of m&ny future poems, which will be the delight
of all nations. Nor need we fear, that by putting it into